By the time a handful of counterprotesters left the area near Silent Sam on UNC Chapel Hill’s campus Saturday, even the protesters calling for the removal of the Confederate memorial there seemed bored with them.

They sent the last three counterprotesters away with a sad rendition of the go-home song “Hey, Hey-ye Goodbye.”

The two groups stared each other down for about three hours after a spirited initial verbal skirmish. But UNC police stepped in and quickly defused the situation. They were more like parents sending disruptive children to their rooms.

The counterprotesters, numbering five or six at the beginning, were overwhelmingly outnumbered by the group of people who initially marched on Tuesday and have maintained a sit-in around the statue in protest since then. It was an odd juxtaposition with the protesters calling for the removal of Silent Sam to be encircling the monument and the Confederate flag-wearing statue supporters being held at bay.

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UNC's Davie Poplar scene of fire and explosion

Fire and explosion at UNC's Davie Poplar

Painting artist are setting up their easels and paint on their palettes at locations around Orange County.

A small group of Confederate flag-waving counterprotesters tried to interrupt an anti-Silent Sam vigil at UNC Chapel Hill on Saturday, Aug. 26, 2017. Scott Sharpessharpe@newsobserver.com

The counterprotesters, who said they were from Franklinton and Spring Hope, asked not to be identified by name. They said they just wanted to come to the Silent Sam memorial and exercise their right to protest.

“We don’t want any trouble,” one counterprotester said.

The counterprotesters carried Confederate flags, a “Don’t Tread on Me” flag and signs calling for UNC to honor its Confederate war dead and to not desecrate memorials. Another said “Heritage, Not Hate.”

UNC's Davie Poplar scene of fire and explosion

Fire and explosion at UNC's Davie Poplar

Painting artist are setting up their easels and paint on their palettes at locations around Orange County.

The Confederate statue on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus was a point of friction and protest long before the Charlottesville rally in support of a statue of Robert E. Lee turned tragically violent and left three people dead, thrusting the issue into the national spotlight. Lynn Bonner video, N&O file photosVideo produced by John Hansen

Numerous people passed through the quad and largely ignored the counterprotesters, who finally packed it in shortly after 4 p.m. They were escorted off campus by university police.

Word of the counterprotest forming spread on social media and with a telephone call to The Herald-Sun shortly before 1 p.m. Saturday.

One of the protesters, who identified herself as UNC student Tahjamar Warren, called The Herald-Sun to say her group was being harassed by the counterprotesters.

“Some harassing people are circling the (Silent Sam) statue ... taunting us and making vague threats,” Warren said.

She said the sit-in protesters consisted of UNC students and sympathetic members of the community who want the Silent Sam statue to be removed and relocated.

Two of the five men carrying Confederate flags stand near a sit-in at the base of the Silent Same Confederate statue (background) on the UNC campus Saturday, Aug. 26, 2017. The men carrying the flags were in opposition to the sit-in group who is calling for the removal of the Silent Sam. The men refused to give their names.

Scott Sharpe ssharpe@newsobserver.com

On Twitter, the UNC Black Congress posted the following message accompanying a photo of four counterprotesters on Franklin Street headed toward the Silent Sam statue: “Spotted on franklin st. CALLING ON BODIES TO COME SUPPORT AND PROTECT IN NUMBERS (WHITE COMRADES) #SilentSSamsitin.”

UNC's Davie Poplar scene of fire and explosion

Fire and explosion at UNC's Davie Poplar

Painting artist are setting up their easels and paint on their palettes at locations around Orange County.

Tempers flare and emotions run high in August during a rally and march calling for the removal of the Confederate statue known as 'Silent Sam' on the UNC campus in Chapel Hill. Julia Wall, Ethan Hyman and Chuck Liddyjwall@newsobserver.com, ehyman@newsobserver.com and cliddy @newsobserver.com